The World’s Most Scariest Bridges In The World

Aiguille du Midi Bridge

Mont Blanc massif, French Alps, France

The Aiguille du Midi is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps. The name “Aiguille du Midi” translates literally as “Needle of the Noon” or “Needle of the Mid-day”.

Elevation: 3,842 m

First ascent: August 4, 1818

Prominence: 310 m

First ascenders: Antoni Malczewski, J. M. Balmat

Mountain range: Mont Blanc massif, Alps

Capilano Suspension Bridge Park

North Vancouver, BC

The Capilano Suspension Bridge is a simple suspension bridge crossing the Capilano River in the District of North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The current bridge is 137 metres long and 70 metres above the river.

Total length: 137 m

Location: North Vancouver

Province: British Columbia

Architect: George Grant Mackay

Puente de Ojuela

Mapimi, City of Durango, Mexico

Ojuela Bridge is located northeast of the state of Durango, near the caves of Rosario, adjacent to the historic village of Mapimí. In 1898, the engineer Santiago Minguín directed the construction site. It is a wooden suspension bridge and steel and measures approximately 318 meters long by 1.80 wide. The bridge rests at its ends on two supports called stirrups.

Said stirrups are supported on beams and cables, which in turn hold the board. The side edges of the board are closed by parapets.

The bridge connects to an abandoned mine (the Ojuela) with a people, now ghost, who for decades, from colonial times, allowed the exploitation of various materials. Ojuela Bridge is a technological marvel and a tourist attraction.

Total length: 318 m

Total Width: 1.80 m

Location: City of Durango, Mexico

Hussaini Hanging Bridge

Pakistan

Try to ignore the remains of the previous rope bridge that has been reduced to tatters as you cross Pakistan’s Borit Lake. The current incarnation of the bridge is nearly as frightening to cross, with unstable planks and wide gaps along the way. Floodwaters reportedly submerged the bridge in May 2010.

Got vertigo? Look away now…

These bridges are utterly bewildering. Why were they even built? Has anyone evercrossed them? And why are two of them in France?

The good news is, despite them being utterly traumatizing to look at, let alone cross, none of them are in the UK so the chance of you taking the scenic route home from your aunt and uncles’ and ending up on one of these monstrosities is pretty unlikely.

Go on, take a look at the world’s most terrifying bridges…

Hussaini Hanging Bridge, Pakistan

Known as the world’s most dangerous bridge, this walkway crosses Borit Lake in Pakistan and looks absolutely hideous. Not only that, but an older, tattier one hangs next to it – as if a sign of what might happen whilst you cross the Hussaini. Splendid.

We can’t believe people make regular journeys on this

Canopy Walk, Ghana

This bridge lies within Kakum National Park and is the only canopy walkway in any national park in Africa. It connects several treetops and allows visitors to view endangered animals including forest elephants and the Diana monkey.Looks a little sway-ey, no?

Langkawi Sky Bridge. Kedah, Malaysia

Built in 2004, this pedestrian bridge is 700 metres above sea level. Good. The fabulous news is that it closed as of January 2014 and may never open again. Thankfully, your best friend can now not try and egg you on into walking across it…Just a casual spot for a Sunday stroll

Mount Titlis, Switzerland

The highest suspension bridge in Europe, thanks to it’s staggering 3,000 metre height, the Titlis Cliff Walk Bridge is located in the Alps. It opened in 2013, is designed to withstand snow storms and extreme winds (apparently it’s super safe) and offers spectacular views.

Anyone else want to be sick just from looking at the picture?

Vitim River Bridge, Russia

Only a handful of people have ever crossed this bridge and survived, and they have their own Facebook page, obvs. Why is it so scary? It’s iced over for most of the year, isn’t wide enough for a car and has no railings.

Millau Viaduct, France

This beauty is the world’s highest bridge for a major road, and is in fact taller than the Eiffel Tower. Sheesh. It holds the A7F motorway, which connects Paris to Montpellier and is often marveled as one of the world’s most impressive achievements of all time in engineering.

Millau Viaduct, France

Looking down on clouds is to be expected from an airplane, but it’s a bit more unsettling in a car. Yet that’s often the sight when driving across this bridge, which is taller than the Eiffel Tower at its highest point. In fact, when it opened in 2004, it claimed the title of the world’s tallest vehicular bridge.

Where: Crossing the Tarn Valley, near Millau in southern France.

Stats: Less than 2 miles long; 1,125 feet from the valley floor to the peak of its tallest mast.

Millau Viaduct just chilling above the clouds 

Quepos Bridge, Costa Rica

When you first Google this, you’ll see someone has named it ‘The Bridge of Death’, which is always a good sign. The bridge looks like it could crumble at any moment, but apparently large trucks drive over it and people survive. Blimey..This one looks ready to collapse at any minute

Puente de Ojuela, Mexico

The only functioning remainder of Ojuela, a mining settlement in Mexico which is now a ghost town, the bridge was designed by the same people as the Brooklyn Bridge. Pretty cool, no? What a nice rickety structure.The ghost town this bridge is attached to makes it even more unsettling

Aiguille du Midi Bridge, France

This bridge is perched on top of a nice high mountain the Alps. Luckily, the bridge is short, but you’ll still have to take a cable car 9,200ft up just to reach it. Ooh.A short bridge, but absolutely bloomin’ terrifying

Royal Gorge Bridge, Colorado, USA

This tourist attraction was the highest bridge in the world until 2001, and also has a park, crammed with other tourist hits such as zoos and rides, attached to it. A wild fire destroyed a large part of the attraction in 2013, although it is expected to full re-open in the summer of 2014.

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The Capilano suspension bridge, in Vancouver, British Columbia, has been a popular attraction among daring tourists since it opened in 1889. The 70m-high bridge stretches 137m across the river below, taking hikers past the tree tops of the evergreens.Half a kilometre high and linking a valley that's well over 1,000m wide, the Siduhe river bridge in China is a feat of engineering that opened in 2009 making it the highest bridge in the world.

Located in Kakum national park, Ghana, the canopy walkway is a 40m-high, 350m-long rope bridge that connects seven tree tops in the forest.

If you don't find the Kawarau bridge scary enough, try jumping off it. The 43m-high suspension bridge on New Zealand's South Island is the birthplace of commercial bungee jumping.

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, Northern Ireland

It may seem quaint, but the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge on the Antrim coast of Northern Ireland still makes for a hairy hike - though not quite as scary as back in the 70s, when it still only had one handrail. The bridge takes visitors across a rocky gorge to the tiny island of Carrickarede – and once you're there, there's only one way back again.The Langkawi Skybridge in Malaysia is a 125m-long curved footbridge 700m above sea level, offering visitors spectacular views. It can only be reached by cable car, meaning this is definitely one for those with a head for heights.The Hanging Bridge of Ghasa in Nepal is one of many unnerving rope bridges you'll find in this mountainous country. It's not uncommon to find local farmers herding their animals across the rickety crossing.

To get to the bridge at the summit of the Aiguille du Midi, near Chamonix in the French Alps, you have to take a cable car ride that takes you up 2,800 vertical metres first. If that isn't enough for you, you might want to check in at the Chamonix Skywalk. Until 2001, the Royal Gorge bridge in Colorado was the highest bridge in the world. Built in 1929, the 291m-high structure is now a popular tourist attraction, not least because of the fact that it is situated within a theme park.

Mackinac Bridge, Michigan

Some drivers get so nervous about crossing this five-mile-long bridge that they don’t even go. And this happens so often that the Mackinac Bridge Authority will drive your car or motorcycle for you (and for free). The biggest fear is the wind, which often exceeds 30 miles per hour on the bridge.

Where: Between Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas.

Stats: 5 miles long; 199 feet above the water.

William Preston Lane, Jr. Memorial Bridge (Bay Bridge), Maryland

Drivers are notoriously afraid of this bridge, as it’s subjected to frequent—and often violent—storms. And when the bad weather hits, forget about visibility: get to the middle of this five-mile-long bridge and you can barely see land.

Where: Spanning the Chesapeake Bay to connect Maryland’s eastern and western shores.

Stats: Nearly 5 miles long; 186 feet high at its highest point.

Monkey Bridges, Vietnam

It may seem that only monkeys could make it across traditional monkey bridges—after all, they’re typically made of a single bamboo log and one handrail. However, the name comes from the stooped monkey-like posture you have to maintain when crossing, so as not to plunge into the river below.

Where: Various points across the Mekong Delta at the southern tip of Vietnam.

Stats: These bridges are built by hand by local residents and vary from town to town. Newer ones are made of concrete.

Seven Mile Bridge, Florida

Besides being seven miles long, the bridge itself doesn’t seem that scary. But its position in the Florida Keys makes it a prime target for the region’s many hurricanes. In fact, the current bridge is the second iteration. The newer bridge scrapped the swing span concept of the original in lieu of a sturdier 65-foot-high arch to allow boats to pass by. While it may be sturdier, we still wouldn’t want to be on it during a storm.

Where: The Florida Keys, connecting the Middle and Lower Keys.

Stats: 7 miles long; 65 feet high.

U Pain Bridge, Myanmar

With no handrails, you’ll want to be extra careful crossing this bridge, especially in the dry season—there’s no lake below to soften the fall. And it’s not exactly brand-new; this 3/4-mile-long teak bridge was built more than 200 years ago. More than 1,000 wooden posts (read: logs)—with roughly four or five feet between each—hold it up.

Where: In Mandalay, connecting opposite banks of Taungthaman Lake

Stats: 3/4 miles long; 15 feet high.

Deception Pass Bridge, Washington

If the drive over this foggy strait in the Puget Sound isn't particularly scary to you, try walking over the narrow pedestrian lane at the edge of the bridge. That's where you'll find especially hair-raising views of the rushing water directly below.

Where: Connecting Whidbey Island and Fidalgo Island, in Deception Pass State Park.

Stats: Combined, the two spans are 1,486 feet in length; 180 feet above the water.

Iya Valley Vine Bridges, Japan

Shikoku, the smallest of Japan’s four main islands, is home to three vine bridges. The originals were built with slats of wood placed between 7 and 12 inches apart, secured in place with two single vines. While the new bridges are reinforced with wire and hand rails, they’re still not for the faint of heart.

Where: Tokushima, over the Iya-gawa River

Stats: 148 feet long; 46 feet high.

Captain William Moore Bridge, Alaska

True, earthquakes don’t happen all the time, but this bridge isn’t where you want to be during one: it crosses an active earthquake fault. Engineers, aware of the potential for disaster, anchored only one end of the bridge securely, so when the ground below shifts, the bridge isn’t torn apart.

Where: Along the South Klondike Highway near Skagway

Stats: 110-foot-long cantilever bridge finished in 1976

Cikurutug Bridge, Indonesia

Most of the three-hour trip on the Argo Gede train is packed with gorgeous views of green mountains and river valleys. But the ride turns from scenic to scary once you get to the Cikurutug Bridge, where the train slid off its tracks in 2002. Though nobody was hurt, authorities have elevated security precautions to protect their passenger’s safety since the accident.

Where: On the Argo Gede train from Jakarta’s Gambir station to Bandung

Stats: About 200 feet above the valley floor.

Canopy Walk, Ghana

These footbridges soar above the forest floor in Ghana’s Kakum National Park. Sure, there are hand rails and net walls that rise up on either side of you—about three-and-a-half to four feet high, anyway—but you’re still walking on a plank of wood no more than one foot wide. Oh yes, and you’re 100 feet off the forest floor.

Where: Kakum National Park

Stats: 1,000 feet long; 100 feet high.

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, Louisiana

This bridge rises just 16 feet above the waters of Lake Pontchartrain, but the real fear factor is that it never seems to end—it spans nearly 24 miles from Metairie to Mandeville, LA. (Once you reach roughly the eight-mile mark, say goodbye to land visibility.)

Where: Across Lake Pontchartrain between the towns of Metairie and Mandeville.

Stats: 24 miles long; 16 feet above water.

Musou Tsuribashi, Japan

Bring a balancing pole—the only railings you’ll find on this 50-year-old bridge are two thin barely-there ropes. That’s a bit disconcerting considering the dizzying heights reached by this bridge, especially when the winds begin to howl over the forest below.

Where: In the remote wilderness of the Southern Japanese Alps (also known as the Akaishi Mountains).

Stats: The bridge is so remote that not much is known about its length and height.

Vitim River Bridge, Russia

Surviving this bridge crossing is considered such an accomplishment that the 34 people who have done it created their own Facebook page. The old railway bridge is only 50 feet above the water, so what makes it scary? Well, it’s barely wide enough for one car, and it’s iced over for much of the year—oh, and did we mention that there are no railings to catch your fall?

Where: Crossing over the Vitim River, a tributary of the Lena River, in eastern Siberia.

Stats: 1,870 feet long and 50 feet above the water.

Road Between Tierradentro to La Plata, Colombia

This mountain road is littered with simple bamboo bridges that wobble violently as you cross, with water rushing mere inches below you. The slickness caused by frequent torrential rainfall increases the danger quotient even more. Daredevils brave this road to see the massive underground tombs in the National Archeological Park of Tierradentro. A better option, perhaps? Taking the bus.

Where: On the road between Tierradentro to La Plata in southern Colombia.

Stats: Because it’s so remote, there are no official stats.

Volgograd Bridge, Russia

This bridge is practically brand new, but it’s amazing it hasn’t been shut down. During a violent storm in May 2010, the roadway began to shake and oscillate, in a similar manner to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge before it collapsed in 1940. The rippling roadway caused cars to be thrown into the air and careen into the opposite lane. Authorities blamed it on an earthquake, but seismologists disagreed. The safety investigation is ongoing, even as cars still drive across.

Where: In the southern Russian city of Volgograd, crossing the Volga River.

Stats: 4.5 miles long.

Quepos Bridge, Costa Rica

Known as the “Oh My God” bridge, this crossing is so narrow that cars can travel only in one direction. After waiting your turn, you pile onto the bridge with many other cars (including heavy trucks). The loose slats of the roadway clank loudly while the bridge shakes under the weight of all the vehicles.

Where: On the road from Jaco to Quepos on Costa Rica’s central Pacific coast.

Stats: No official stats.

The Storseisundbrua, Atlantic Highway, Norway

The Millau Viaduct

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel

The Confederation Bridge between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, Canada

Royal Gorge Bridge and Park, Cañon City, Colorado.

The Mackinac Bridge, Michigan

Eisenhower-era highway bridge in Massachusetts